Queen's Park, October 1, 2018 - "My question is to the Minister of Labour. The recent census showed that one quarter of working-age Londoners have dropped out of the labour market altogether, more than any other city in Canada. Now a new documentary from the London Poverty Research Centre reveals that fully half of Londoners who are working are in non-standard, unstable jobs. This includes Frances Hinna, a father of four with two Western University degrees. Frances is doing everything possible to find work in his field, but is barely surviving on his minimum-wage job.
An increase to $15 would have made a huge difference to Frances and his family while he struggles to find work. Why is the minister turning her back on Frances and the thousands of Ontarians like him?
Again to the minister: Stuart Clark is 50 years old and was laid off from his IT job about five years ago, working contract-to-contract ever since. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in London is $980, which means that Stuart is spending more than half his monthly income on housing.
Since 2005, London has lost 5,400 good-paying full-time jobs while our population has grown by 7%. Food bank usage in our city is up 30% over the past decade. Can the minister explain how rolling back workplace benefits and protections will help contract workers like Stuart to make ends meet?"